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“The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report About 9/11 Is Unscientific and False” by David Ray Griffin debunked the official account of what happened.

He explained that the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s official findings were fabricated.

He accused NIST of falsifying and ignoring hard evidence, sticking to the official Big Lie about WTC 7’s collapse.

AE911Truth’s Richard Gage said the following about Griffin’s book:

He “provided a comprehensive dismantling of NIST’s theory about WTC 7, according to which it suffered global collapse because of ordinary building fires,” adding:

“Besides showing that NIST committed massive scientific fraud, Griffin also points out that NIST was able to complete its theory only by affirming a miracle: a steel-framed high-rise building coming down in free fall even though explosives had not been used to remove its columns.”

Physics Professor John Wyndham said “Griffin show(ed) that NIST’s WTC 7 report has no scientific credibility.”

Big Lies take on a life of their own because establishment media report them as facts — serving as press agents for powerful interests inimical to peace, equity and justice.

The official 9/11 story is the Biggest Big Lie of our time — about the mother of all state-sponsored false flags, dark forces in Washington responsible.

Osama bin Laden and so-called “crazed Arabs” had nothing to do with what happened on a day that will live in infamy forever.

It opened the gates of hell for endless US wars of aggression against nonbelligerent states threatening no one — responsible for countless millions of deaths and human misery on an appalling scale.

Seriously ill with kidney disease and other ailments, bin Ladin in mid-2001 was being treated at the American Hospital in Dubai.

On September 10, 2001 (one day before 9/11), CBS News anchor Dan Rather reported his admittance to a Rawalpindi, Pakistan hospital. He was dying.

On July 11, 2002, The NYT said “Osama bin Laden is dead. (He) died in December (2001) and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan.”

The BBC, Fox News, and other media sources reported the same information.

On December 26, 2001, a leading Pakistani newspaper reported bin Laden’s death. It cited a prominent Taliban official who attended his funeral – witnessing his dead body before it was laid to rest.

Obama didn’t kill Osama, another Big Lie of our time. So-called “Enemy Number One” was an unwitting CIA asset — recruited in the 1980s by Pakistani intelligence against Soviet Russia in Afghanistan.

The official 9/11 account was fabricated to conceal state-sponsored terrorism, dark forces in Washington responsible for what happened.

David Ray Griffin 10 books on the 9/11 Big Lie provide the most detailed account of what happened and its aftermath — including about the 9/11 (whitewash) Commission.

Jet fuel had nothing to do with bringing down the twin towers. The BBC reported WTC 7’s collapse nearly 30 minutes before it happened.

He cited Section 15 of Britain’s 2000 Terrorism Act, stating it’s an “offense for someone to invite another to provide money, intending that it should be used, or having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used, for terrorism purposes.”

He accused the BBC of reporting the collapse of WTC 7 before it came down. A UK judge agreed with him, his victory unreported by US establishment media — part of their conspiracy of silence about hard truths dark forces want suppressed.

Fires and heavy debris from the twin towers had nothing to do with WTC 7’s collapse — the official Big Lie reported by Western media.

A four-year study by University of Alaska’s J. Leroy Hulsey, South Carolina Department of Transportation bridge engineer Zhili Quan, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology Department of Civil Engineering academic Feng Xiao titled “A Structural Reevaluation of the Collapse of World Trade Center” was in part funded by Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth).

It provided detailed scientific evidence of what caused WTC 7’s collapse, debunking the official Big Lie.

The study’s “principle conclusion…is that fire did not cause the collapse of WTC 7 on

9/11, contrary to the conclusions of NIST and private engineering firms that studied the collapse.”

The official 9/11 account was fabricated, suppressing hard truths about what happened on that fateful day, changing the course of history.

According to the study, scientific evidence shows that “fires could not have caused weakening or displacement of structural members capable of initiating any of the hypothetical local failures alleged to have triggered the total collapse of the building, nor could any local failures, even if they had occurred, have triggered a sequence of failures that would have resulted in the observed total collapse.”

WTC 7’s collapse “was a global failure involving the near-simultaneous failure of every column in the building.”

No “progressive collapse involving the sequential failure of columns throughout the building” occurred.”

Nothing external to WTC 7 caused its free fall collapse in 2.5 seconds. Debris from the twin towers and building 7 was removed and destroyed to prevent a proper forensic analysis, AE911Truth explained.

On 9/11, remaining remnants of rule of law in the US died. Endless war on humanity at home and abroad replaced it.

Things are worsening, not improving — both right wings of the US war party responsible for an increasingly nightmarish scenario.

US rage for unchallenged dominance risks unthinkable/potentially catastrophic global war by accident or design, including possible use of nuclear weapons for the first time in earnest — a nightmarish scenario if things turn out this way.

Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva has revealed that the US is arming the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Yemen. On her website Armswatch.com, Gaytandzhieva has published the documentation of the weapons contractors involved. A complex international network involving Serbia, Croatia, Afghanistan, and the United States has been supplying arms to IS terrorists in Yemen, where a civil war has been raging since 2015.

Still, shots taken from an IS video in Yemen show weapons manufactured by Serbian state-owned arms manufacturer Krusik and exported by Jugoimport SDPR. The weapons were purchased by American company Alliant Techsystems LLC (a subsidiary of ATK Orbital) on orders from the US Government. They were ordered by the US military as part of the Resolute Support operation in Afghanistan. In other words, they were supposed to be part of the US training and support for Afghan military and police when, in fact, they were shipped to terrorists in Yemen and Syria.

*(This still image taken from the Islamic State video in Yemen shows mortar shells 82 mm M74 HE lot 04/18 from the Serbian arms factory Krusik along with mortar shells from Bosnia and Herzegovina.)

Gaytandzhieva’s report also shows that US companies have been shipping weapons to Al-Qaeda from the same Serbian manufacturers via US military bases in Croatia and Qatar, as part of the US Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) Train and Equip programme in Syria. Many of those weapons have been identified in Al-Qaeda and IS videos in Syria and Yemen.

The finance for these arms supplies was handled by Sierra Four Industries, USA, on behalf of the US Government. But the payment passed through British company Charles Kendall & Partners Ltd. Why would US government contracts pass through private British companies?

Another US arms contractor identified in the documents is Mil Spec Industries. They supply weapons to the US military. In a leaked email to Krusik, they ask that their company name be removed from the weapons packaging. Why does the company not want to be identified? Many names of US military personnel are mentioned in the document and copies of their passports are included. The leak is one of the most important pieces of investigative journalism in recent decades.

Unsurprisingly, no mainstream media outlets have covered the story. Instead, we continue to be told that the US is fighting IS or ISIS. But is there any reason to believe that the US and its allies are really fighting the Islamic State?

Origin of the Islamic State

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria was formed in 2006 in the US Camp Bucca prison in Iraq. A 2014 Guardian report revealed that the group was formed in the prison under US supervision. Another Guardian report in November 2013 claimed the US was using Guantanamo Prison in Cuba as a training ground for double agents. The prison facility used for this purpose was called Penny Lane, a reference to the eponymous Beatle’s song. The Guardian article stated that:

“The biggest fear, former officials involved with the programme recalled, was that a former detainee would attack Americans then publicly announce that he had been on the CIA payroll.”

Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane

It is noteworthy that the US military used allusions to the Beatles in their prison facilities. Penny Lane is a street in Liverpool named after James Penny, a 19th-century slave trader. One cannot help speculate that the “shipping around” of US military-intelligence assets is what the US military had in mind when they set up Penny Lane secret facility.

The “Strawberry Fields” song was released simultaneously with “Penny Lane” in 1967. Critics have pointed out that “Strawberry Fields” contains occult symbolism. The song promotes drug-use and drop-out culture. In the 1950s and 60s the CIA ran programmes testing the effects of psychedelic drugs on the American population in order to assess their utility for social control and military operations. CIA agents such as cultural guru Timothy Leary promoted drugs among America’s youth. It was a generation of hedonism and narcissism which would produce some of contemporary world’s most ruthless capitalist overlords.

In 2001, the director of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, Andrew Marshall told Wire magazine that pharmacological warfare would be a central component of US military strategy in the following decade. The Armswatch report reveals that Atlas Air is one of the companies operating from Croatia where it undertakes the supply of narcotics on behalf of the US Government. It has been reported that many of the head-chopping terrorists in Syria use amphetamines, notably Captagon. The drugs excite and desensitize the terrorists, encouraging them to commit atrocities. Could the Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields facilities in Guantanamo Bay be the laboratory where these narcotics are tested on future double agents?

During the 2011 Libyan War, Colonel Gaddafi said the rebels in Benghazi were Al-Qaeda and were using drugs. A close associate of Bin Laden, Abdelhakim Belhaj was made NATO commander of Tripoli after the fall of Gaddafi. Belhaj had previously been under US captivity for terrorism, and was accused by former Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar of being the mastermind of the 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 193 people and injured 2000. Former Guantanamo inmate Abu Sofian bin Qumu was also part of the NATO-backed coalition against Gaddafi in Libya.

But the US Government’s links to terrorists go back a long way. In October 2010, Fox News reported that Yemeni Al-Qaeda leader Anwar Al-Awlaki dined at the Pentagon just months after the 2001 terrorists attacks in New York and Washington. FBI officials told the American news station that Pentagon officials were not interested in security concerns.

That a top Al-Qaeda operative could be invited to the Pentagon just months after the biggest terrorist attack in US history, makes the conspiracy theory that the US military is training terrorists rather than fighting them increasingly appear to be a conspiracy fact.

Terrorists protected by MI6

On 29 July 2005, former prosecutor for the US Justice Department, John Loftus told Fox News that the chief suspect in the July 2005 London bombings, Haroon Rashid Aswat, was an agent of MI6, the British Secret Service. He said they were protecting him and preventing his arrest by the Americans.

Loftus described a vast terrorist network operating in London called the Muhajiroun or Emigrants. It was the recruiting organisation for Al-Qaeda in Britain. MI6 used these terrorists to invade and destroy Yugoslavia during the 1990s, as NATO planned to break up the country into separate states. Loftus said:

“The CIA was funding the operation to defend the Muslims, British intelligence was doing the hiring and recruiting. Now we have a lot of detail on this because Captain Hook, the head of Al-Muhajiroun, his sidekick was Bakri Mohammed, another cleric. And back on October 16, 2001, he gave a detailed interview with al-Sharq al-Aswat, an Arabic newspaper in London, describing the relationship between British intelligence and the operations in Kosovo and Al-Muhajiroun. So that’s how we get all these guys connected. It started in Kosovo, Haroon was 31 years old, he came on about 1995.”

The Kosovan fighters committed countless atrocities against Serbs during the Balkan wars but were hailed as “heroes” by the Western media, while the Serbs were demonized.

NATO had plans for the break-up of Yugoslavia that go back to the 1970s. In an interview shortly before he died, French General Pierre Marie Gallois, “father of the French atom bomb,” explained in detail how NATO had conspired to destroy the Yugoslav Federation. General Gallois described the disinformation campaign waged by the Western media which blamed Kosovo Liberation Army atrocities on the Serbian army. The destruction of Yugoslavia would become a template for future wars of aggression waged by NATO against nations who refused to be subordinated to US military, economic and strategic interests.

The invasion and destruction of Libya in 2011 and the ongoing war against Syria are the most recent examples of genocidal wars waged by the West but blamed on the victims. The vast and highly-financed network of NGOs and compliant media outlets has been the key to keeping the Western public completely ignorant about the origin and nature of NATO’s “humanitarian” wars.

The US Bondsteel military base in Kosovo is the largest in Europe. An important Albanian source recently told me that the Bondsteel military base is being used as a training ground for the Mujahedeen Al Khalq, a terrorist organization which was used by the United States against Iran in the past and is now being revived for further terrorist operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Several state media reports in Iraq and Iran have accused the United States and the UK of delivering arms to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. There is no reason to believe they are lying, given the fact that top US officials admit IS is a tool of US geopolitics.

Former NATO commander General Wesley Clark – who stated in 2004 that the United States would “take out” 7 countries in five years – has admitted repeatedly that IS is an invention of US Persian Gulf allies for the geostrategic objective of defeating Iran and Hezbollah.

“Very candidly, the only people that will fight the Iranians and the Shiia and Hezbollah are these zealous, religious nuts; and all the Sunni powers were using them. They created a Frankenstein in the region.”

He also told CNN:

“ISIS got started from our friends and allies because, as people will tell you from the region, if you want somebody who will fight to the death against Hezbollah, you don’t put out a recruiting poster and say: ‘Sign up for us, we’re going to make a better world.’ You go after zealots and you go after these religious fundamentalists. That’s who fights Hezbollah.”

Former US Vice-President Joe Biden confessed to Harvard University students in 2014 that US allies backed ISIS against Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad. In June 2016, Israel’s Military Intelligence Chief, General Herzi Halevey told reporters that Israel does not want to see ISIS defeated in Syria.

Israel has not disguised the fact that it supports ISIS in Syria

Both the Israeli Defense Minister and the former Israeli ambassador to the United States have admitted Israel prefers ISIS to Iran. It has been confirmed by the Israeli press that Al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria have received medical and military aid from Israel. A Dutch Justice Ministry official told De Telegraaf news agency in March 2015 that “ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It’s part of a plan by Zionists who are deliberately trying to blacken Islam’s name.”

Since 2001, the evidence of Western collusion in Islamist terrorism is overwhelming, yet the public remains brainwashed by the NGO-media public relations complex deceptively referred to as “news”, who fail to inform citizens about these facts. In 2015, Sudanese President Omar Bashir told Euro News that the CIA and the Israeli Secret Intelligence Service (Mossad) were behind Boko Harem and ISIL terrorists in Africa. These terrorist organizations are murdering thousands of innocent people and forcing millions of others to flee their countries, exacerbating a world refugee and migrant crisis which is now out of control.

When it appeared that the Trump administration was about to change course and actually eliminate the ISIS terrorists in Syria, the New York Times columnist Thomas L.Friedman complained, suggesting ISIS was of strategic value to the United States. When Donald Trump talks about “fake news”, he never refers to the fact that the mainstream media are supporting Islamist terrorists all over the world by calling them “moderate rebels” and “revolutionaries.”

Gaytandshieva’s report gives details of major arms manufacturers and contractors involved in the supply of weapons to the barbaric terrorists. What emerges is an international network of highly lucrative deals involving billions of dollars — all in the service of genocide.

Since the US-backed bombing of Yemen in 2015, hundreds of thousands of children have starved to death in what is estimated to be one of the largest famines in modern history. Libya, Syria, Yemen, and many more countries throughout Africa have been overrun and destroyed by psychopaths armed and trained by the people who work in these Western arms companies. They must be held to account!

The people named in the leaked documents should be prosecuted for terrorism under international law.

In his 2015 presidential campaign, Donald Trump tweeted repeatedly about getting US forces out of Syria, and ending useless wars. But the wars have continued under his watch. On 20 December 2018, he said that “Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS.”

If President Trump knows that Iran and the Syrian Government are fighting terrorism in the Middle East, why is the US Government preventing US intellectuals and officials — many of whom support Trump — from attending New Horizons Conferences in Iran? The entire focus of the New Horizons Conferences I have attended has been the defeat of Islamist terrorism and the prospects for peaceful relations with the West.

To suggest that there is a “clash of civilizations” — that the West is fighting a “war on terrorism” against an international network of ruthless killers bent on taking away our freedoms — is to propagate the most asinine form of conspiracy theory. What I have written about here is simply the hard and disturbing evidence of a decades-long conspiracy by a global oligarchy of militants, Zionists and bankers to increase their power through genocide and enslavement. Will the masses ever wake up?

In Strawberry Fields, John Lennon sings “living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see”. That is precisely the matrix which the Western military-industrial-media-intelligence complex has imposed on the masses. The purpose of the mass media is to keep your eyes closed, to “take you down”, hypnotizing you into believing we live in a fruit meadow of human rights, freedom and democracy, when in reality what you perceive as strawberry fields is a vast, and ever-expanding sea of blood.

US aggression in Afghanistan continues unabated in its 18th year. Prospects for restoring peace and stability to the war-torn are more illusory than likely.

Talks between Trump regime and Taliban representatives have been ongoing since July last year.

Claims about concluding them successfully in the near-term are wishful thinking — not as long as CIA-controlled paramilitaries exist in the country.

A new study by Brown University’s Watson Institute (WI) for International and Public Affairs called the “CIA army” of Afghan paramilitary forces a “threat to human rights and an obstacle to peace in Afghanistan.”

It’s involved in the US war OF terrorism, not on it. State terrorism is longstanding US policy, especially post-9/11 when remaining constraints on its imperial rage ended.

CIA controlled paramilitaries in Afghanistan serve US imperial interests. Their existence makes restoration of peace and stability to the country unattainable.

So does keeping US “intelligence assets” in the country on the phony pretext of countering the scourge of terrorism the US created and supports.

Withdrawal of Pentagon forces won’t matter, if occurs, as long as a private CIA army in Afghanistan exists — with likely no intention of leaving.

Established shortly after US aggression on the country was launched, WI said they’ve “committed serious human rights abuses, including numerous extrajudicial killings of

civilians,” adding:

“CIA sponsorship ensures that their operations are clouded in secrecy. There is virtually no public oversight of their activities or accountability for grave human rights abuses.”

Langley paramilitaries are the modern-day equivalent of CIA-recruited Afghan mujahideen fighters against Soviet occupiers in the 1980s — today’s Taliban, combatting illegal US war and occupation of their country.

They want it back, US invaders out. It’s not likely as long as the CIA’s private army in the country exists.

“Little is publicly known about” it said WI, adding: It’s “an illegal armed group (that) no basis in Afghan law and no formal place in the state security apparatus” authorizes.

“(A)ll we know is that the CIA-sponsored forces are uniformed and well-equipped, sometimes work with American English-speaking men during raids,” and are supported by Pentagon terror-bombing, indiscriminately killing civilians time and again.

Human rights groups and investigative journalists documented their crimes of war and against humanity — “operating with impunity, unconstrained by political or judicial accountability,” WI explained, adding:

“(T)he CIA-sponsored program and activities of its Afghan Army are shielded from public oversight and accountability.”

“Afghan authorities appear to be uninformed or unwilling to divulge anything about the program’s structure, funding or operations.”

“UN officials investigating reports of abuses and intentional killings of civilians by (CIA paramilitaries) were unable to obtain any information from Afghan officials.”

The sinister, diabolical, secretive, unaccountable CIA operates extrajudicially at home and abroad. Its existence threatens world peace, stability and security.

Its dirty hands are all over plots against nations on the US target list for regime change — along with involvement in its wars of aggression.

Whatever the outcome of US/Taliban talks, Washington came to Afghanistan to stay, not leave, permanent occupation planned, wanting the country’s resources plundered.

In late 2018 and numerous other times, Trump falsely claimed ISIS was defeated.

Last December he tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there…”

In his January State of the Union address, he falsely said: “(T)he coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100% of the territory…in Iraq and Syria.”

In July he said: “We (eliminated) 100% of the caliphate, and we’re rapidly pulling out of Syria. We’ll be out of there pretty soon” — not a message US hardliners want to hear.

He’s a geopolitical know-nothing, proved time and again, aware only of what his handlers want him to know, along with rubbish from Fox News, his favorite propaganda TV channel.

He may not know what followers of reliable independent sources, largely online, explained many times.

ISIS, al-Qaeda, its al-Nusra offshoot, and likeminded terrorist groups are US creations.

They’re recruited, armed, funded, trained, and directed by the Pentagon and CIA — using these jihadists as imperial foot soldiers in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, even the Philippines.

In a 2006 article and in his book on America’s “War on Terrorism,” Michel Chossudovsky explained the following:

“The US military-intelligence has created it own terrorist organizations. In turn, it has developed a cohesive multibillion dollar counterterrorism program (pretending) ‘to go after’ these terrorist organizations,” adding:

“To reach its foreign policy objectives, the images of terrorism in the Iraqi war theater (and later in Syria) must remain vivid in the minds of the citizens, who are constantly reminded of the terrorist threat” — unaware of its US creation.

In 2014, Chossudovsky discussed 26 things to know about the Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh). Here’s some of what’s discussed:

“The US has been protecting both Al Qaeda and ISIS-ISIL-Daesh.”

“The US Airforce has consistently acted on behalf of the terrorists, bombing Syrian government forces.”

“The Islamic State (ISIS) was until 2014 called Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).”

“Al Nusra is an al Qaeda affiliate which has committed countless atrocities in Syria. It is now considered by the US (to be) the ‘Moderate Opposition,’ fighting against Syrian government forces.”

“The terrorists are described as the victims of Syrian government aggression. From the very outset, the atrocities committed by the terrorists are casually blamed on Syrian government forces.”

“Those who recruited, trained and financed the terrorists are upheld by the ‘international community’ as the guardians of World Peace.”

“The latter include the heads of state and heads of government of the US, Britain, France and Turkey among others. It’s called ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P).”

“The US led war against the Islamic State is a big lie.”

“Going after ‘Islamic terrorists,’ carrying out a worldwide pre-emptive war to ‘Protect the American Homeland’ are used to justify a military agenda.”

“The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a creation of US intelligence. Washington’s ‘Counter-terrorism Agenda’ in Iraq and Syria consists in Supporting the Terrorists.”

There’s more vital information in the article to know about ISIS, its origin, and why it was created. Along with likeminded jihadist groups, it’s used to further US imperial interests wherever these elements are deployed.

US aggression in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere is unjustifiably justified as aiming to combat and eliminate the scourge US dark forces support — establishment media going along with the subterfuge.

State terrorism is official US/NATO/Israeli policy, waging war on nations threatening no one and defenseless Palestinians for not being Jewish.

Proxy fighters have been used by the US since the 1980s in Afghanistan and Central America.

Now they’re largely used in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia — but can show up wherever US ruling authorities, the Pentagon, and CIA want them deployed, aided by US terror-bombing of vital infrastructure and other targets.

October 25, 2012 “Information Clearing House” – Over a year ago, he knew he had inoperable esophageal cancer. It spread to his tongue, lymph nodes and lungs. It was just a matter of time. On October 22, it took him. His journey to the spirit world began.

In August 2011, he said:

“I’m not going to argue with the Great Mystery. Lakota belief is that death is a change of worlds. And I believe like my dad believed.”

“When it’s my time to go, it’s my time to go. I’ve told people after I die, I’m coming back as lightning. When it zaps the White House, they’ll know it’s me.”

Earlier he said:

“The Universe which controls all life, has a female and male balance that is prevalent throughout our Sacred Grandmother, the Earth.”

“This balance has to be acknowledged and become the determining factor in all of one’s decisions, be they spiritual, social, healthful, educational or economical.”

On October 24, he’ll be honored in Pine Ridge, SD, the Republic of Lakota. Other gatherings will also celebrate his life and work.

Speaking for herself and children, Means’ wife, Pearl Daniel Means, said the following:

“Hello our relatives. Our dad and husband, now walks among our ancestors. He began his journey to the spirit world at 4:44 am, with the Morning Star, at his home and ranch in Porcupine.”

“There will be four opportunities for the people to honor his life, to be announced at a later date. Thank you for your prayers and continued support. We love you. As our dad and husband would always say, ‘May the Great Mystery continue to guide and protect the paths of you and your loved ones.’ ”

World headlines spread the news. The New York Times said “Russell Means, Who Clashed With Law as He Fought for Indians, Is Dead at 72.” He was America’s “best known Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.”

In 1968, he joined the American Indian Movement (AIM). In 1970, he became its national director. In 1995, he published his autobiography titled, “Where White Men Fear to Tread.”

“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” author Dee Brown said “reading Means’ story is essential for any clear understanding of American Indians during the last half of the twentieth century.”

New York Times writer Robert McFadden said:

Shortly before being diagnosed with inoperable throat cancer, he “cut off his braids. (It was) a gesture of mourning for his people. In Lakota lore, he explained, the hair holds memories, and mourners often cut it to release those memories, and the people in them, to the spirit world.”

The Washington Post headlined “Russell Means dies at 72; American Indian activist helped lead uprising at Wounded Knee,” saying:

“(S)elf-styled modern Indian warrior….forced international attention on the plight of Native Americans for more than four decades.”

“I wish I was there to talk with you in person and share with you the sorrow that I feel with the passing of Russell Means, my brother, my friend, and inspiration on many levels.”

“Russell Means will always be an icon whenever the American Indian Movement is spoken of and whenever people talk about the changes that took place, the changes that are taking place now for Indian people.”

“We’ll see you again my brother Russell, in some other time and in some other place, we will always be your friend, and we will always look forward to seeing your face. Mitakuye Oyasin (All Are Related from a traditional Lakota Sioux prayer).”

Russell Means.com said he “lived a life like few others in this century…” He disliked being called a Native American. “The one thing I’ve always maintained is that I’m an American Indian.”

“Everyone who’s born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American. We are all Native Americans.”

He also said he put “American” before ethnicity. “I’m not a hyphenated African-American or Irish-American or Jewish-American or Mexican-American.”

Means was born on November 10, 1939 in Wanblee, SD, on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Sioux Indian Reservation. With Dennis Banks and Leonard Peltier, he participated in the 1973 Wounded Knee siege and tragedy.

For 71 days, they and other AIM activists held off hundreds off FBI thugs, federal marshals, National Guard troops, and complicit Indian vigilantes. They were called “GOONS (Guardians of Our Oglala Nation).” They sold out for whatever benefits they got in return.

At Wounded Knee, AIM represented over 75 Indian Nations. For nearly two and a half months, they held on. They were free. It wasn’t easy. Washington cut off electricity. Food and other essential deliveries were blocked.

Activists were shot and killed. When it ended, hundreds of arrests followed. An FBI/Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) reign of terror began. It lasted three years.

Roving death squads murdered at least 342 AIM members and supporters. Hundreds more were harassed and beaten. Many more were arrested. Their crime was wanting to live free on their own land.

Leonard Peltier was victimized. He was wrongfully convicted on two first-degree murder counts. On June 1, 1977, he got two consecutive life sentences.

Despite bogus charges and prosecutorial injustice, he’s been denied parole, retrial, clemency, or a pardon. Other nations, past and present congressional members, and hundreds of world dignitaries say he should be unconditionally released.

Means was more fortunate. He stayed free to remain active. In 1978, he joined The Longest Walk. Participants protested racist anti-Indian legislation at that time. It included forced sterilization of Indian women.

Earlier in 1964, Means, his father, and others occupied Alcatraz. They did so peacefully in accordance with their rights. According to broken treaty obligations, abandoned prison property belongs to Indian tribes.

On December 17, 2007, Means and other Lakota people went to Washington. They declared independence. They called it “the latest step in the longest running legal battle” in history.

It’s not a cessation, they said. It’s a lawful “unilateral withdrawal” from treaty obligations permitted under the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

Means said:

“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us.”

“We offer citizenship to anyone provided they renounce their US citizenship.”

“United States colonial rule is at an end.”

Signed documents were delivered to the State Department. Sovereignty was declared. The Republic of Lakota was established. It’s based on the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. It created the Great Lakota (Sioux) Nation. It states in part:

“The territory of the Sioux or Dahcotah Nation, commencing the mouth of the White Earth River, on the Missouri River; thence in a southwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte River; thence up the north fork of the Platte River to a point known as the Red Buts, or where the road leaves the river; thence along the range of mountains known as the Black Hills, to the head-waters of Heart River; thence down Heart River to its mouth; and thence down the Missouri River to the place of beginning.”

It gave Lakota people portions of northern Nebraska, half of South Dakota, one-fourth of North Dakota, one-fifth of Montana, and 20% of Wyoming.

It didn’t matter. Unilateral withdrawal from all treaties and agreements became policy. America never honored its own.

On September 29, 2012 Means reiterated what he and others declared in December 2007, saying:

“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five state area that encompasses our country are free to join us.”

He cited longstanding problems and grievances. They include land theft, resource plunder, poverty, unemployment, repression, and overall human deprivation. All of it remains out of sight and mind.

Means had three weeks to live. Lakota spokesman Salomon called his death a “great loss.” It came a day after former Senator George McGovern died. He and former Senator James Abourezk tried to negotiate an equitable Wounded Knee settlement.

Commenting on Means and McGovern, Abourezk said he “lost two good friends in a matter of two to three days. I don’t pretend to understand it.”

Death, of course, has final say. What matters most is showing up every day and working for right over wrong. Means said he wants to be remembered as an American Indian patriot. He spent most of his adult life proving it.

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

TEHRAN (FNA)– The Islamic Revolution Gauds Corps (IRGC) on Friday released the footage that has been recorded by its drone from the USS Boxer during a surveillance mission over the Strait of Hormuz in a move to counter the US president’s allegation that the American navy has downed the aircraft. [+VIDEO]

US President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that the USS Boxer had fired on an Iranian drone on Thursday, shooting it down in the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone, which had closed into a near distance, approximately 1000 yards, ignoring multiple calls to stand down threatening safety of ship and ship’s crew,” he said at the White House.

The US president claimed that Iran’s drone “was immediately destroyed.”

Minutes later the Pentagon also issued a statement to confirm the report, but did not claim that the drone was Iranian.

The Pentagon claimed the Iranian drone was within a “threatening range” of the US ship.

“At approximately 10 am local time, the amphibious ship USS Boxer was in international waters conducting a planned inbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.

“A fixed wing unmanned aerial system (UAS) approached Boxer and closed within a threatening range. The ship took defensive action against the UAS to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew.”

The top military brass in Tehran rushed to deny the claim. Spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said on Friday that Trump’s statement was absurd and baseless, stressing that the false claim about downing an Iranian Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) was intended to increase tensions in international waterways and disrupting security in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Unlike Trump’s delusional and groundless claim, all drones belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, including the one mentioned by the US president, have returned to their bases safe and sound after carrying out their scheduled surveillance and control operations,” the Armed Forces mouthpiece added.

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran always feel duty-bound to protect, control, and safeguard the security of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz with full vigilance while observing international regulations,” he added.

Hours later on Friday, the IRGC described the US president’s claim as “ridiculous”, and declared that it would release the footage collected by its drone from the US warship to prove the falsity of Washington’s claims.

“We will soon release the footage recorded by the IRGC Aerospace Force drone from the USS Boxer to expose Americans’ baseless claims to the public opinion of the world,” the public relations department of the IRGC announced today.

“The footage will show that the drone of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force was conducting its routine mission in the region before the arrival of the American vessel at the Strait of Hormuz,” read the communique, adding that the drone has sent footage of its “monitoring and surveilling the aforementioned ship both before and after the time that Americans claim”.

The statement added that after recording the footage from the US warship, the drone returned to its base intact.

“The marine and aerospace units of the IRGC vigilantly and continuously monitor the moves by the foreigners, particularly the terrorist forces of the US and the UK in the strategic region, based on their legal duties and for establishing security in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf,” it added.

The IRGC reassured that with its complete intelligence dominance and preparedness, it will deliver a proportionate response to any act of aggression and violation of the international law.

The footage released by the IRGC has been recorded by the drone during a surveillance mission over the Strait of Hormuz over the USS Boxer.

IRGC Navy drones routinely fly over the strategic waterway of the Strait of Hormuz to ensure its security for free international maritime transportation.

The footage shows the trafficking of vessels through the Strait of Hurmuz before the arrival of the American warship and continues to cover the area after the US vessel moves forward and then keeps surveilling the USS Boxer.

The IRGC issued a statement after releasing the video on Friday evening, saying that the drone has been watching the USS Boxer and five other US warships accompanying it for three hours, from the time when they had not made an entry into the Strait of Hormuz to the time when exited the waterway.

“During this period, out drone bases have not observed and recorded any unconventional and threatening action by the US terrorist forces on the stated warship,” the IRGC statement reiterated.

“Hence, it is more evident and proved now that the claim raised by the US officials about the shooting down of an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz without any (supportive) evidence has been baseless and a lie,” it added.

The footage indicates that it has been recorded by the Iran-made drone, Mohajer-4, an unmanned aircraft designed and manufactured for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, with the maximum speed of 200km/phr and flight durability of 7 hours.

The claim by the US president has been refuted by a range of Iranian officials since it was first raised by Donald Trump at a White House event on Thursday. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi said in a tweet, “We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else.”

“I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS by mistake!”, he said in sarcastic words.

The incident came almost a month after the IRGC shot down an intruding American spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormuzgan.

On Tuesday, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the shooting down of a US spy drone over Iranian territorial waters by the IRGC shattered the US military awe.

“The operation to shoot down the US drone in Iran’s sky was successful in every aspect. The operation shattered the awe of the world arrogant power (US) and displayed the rotten and cracked skeleton of the arrogant powers to everyone,” General Hajizadeh said in the Northeastern city of Mashhad on Tuesday.

He added that the different dimensions of the operation will come in light throughout time.

In relevant remarks on Monday, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami underlined Armed Forces’ full preparedness to give a strong response to enemies, saying that downing of a US spy drone over Iran’s territories proved the country’s high capability to defend itself.

“Downing of the US advanced and expensive Global Hawk spy drone by Iran’s integrated air defense surprised foreign experts about the Islamic Republic of Iran’s military capability in defending the country’s borders and confronting the aggressors,” General Hatami said, addressing the Iranian parliamentarians in Tehran.

He underlined that all stages which led to the destruction of the spy drone, including detection, interception and destruction, were completed by using indigenized technology and military equipment, and said, “The Iranian Armed Forces are fully prepared to give a crushing response to any threat and stupidity by enemies and will make them regret their deeds.”

General Hatami stressed that the Iranian Armed Forces would powerfully continue enhancement of their defense power.

Also, last week, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri warned of his country’s strong and painful response to any enemy offensive.

“Undoubtedly, a hard and crushing response will be waiting for those who intend to harm Iran and its borders’ security,” General Baqeri said during a visit to the country’s Northeastern bordering areas on Wednesday.

He added that the Iranian people, including the Shiites and the Sunnis, along with the country’s Armed Forces would foil any enemy plots against Iran’s sustainable security.

His remarks came after the IRGC Aerospace Force shot down an American spy drone over the territorial waters of Iran near the Strait of Hormuz at dawn on June 20.

Also, US President Donald Trump said the US air force was “cocked and loaded” to attack three Iranian targets a day later, but he called off the strike with 10 minutes to spare after being told that the airstrike might kill as many as 150 people.

Trump said in a series of tweets that he decided that the death toll was not a proportionate response to the Iranian shooting down of a US spy drone off the Iranian coast.

After Trump’s remarks, General Hajizadeh said that his forces could have shot down a US P8 aircraft with 35 on board which was violating Iran’s airspace, but decided to shoot down the drone to only send a message to Washington.

“We intended to send a message to American terrorists in the region,” Brigadier General Hajizadeh said, adding that his forces had also traced a military P8 aircraft violating the airspace of Iran.

“Along with the American drone was an American P8 aircraft with 35 on board, and it was also violating our airspace and we could have downed it too,” he said, adding, “But we did not do (shoot down) it, because our aim was to warn the terrorist forces of the US.”

General Hajizadeh also stressed that Iran was not after war but was fully ready to defend itself, adding that the fate of the downed US spy drone was waiting for any intruding flying object.

“Our response to anything trespassing Iranian territory is like this, and if such acts of aggression are repeated, our response will also be the same,” General Hajizadeh said.

“We don’t embrace war but we are ready to fully defend the country,” he said.

“We possess a collection of US drones which is a proof that US has violated Iran’s airspace and shows that they don’t want to respect the international law,” General Hajizadeh said.

“If such an aggression is repeated, we will add other US (military) products to complete this collection,” he noted.

“The US measure was in violation of international law and we acted according to our legitimate responsibility,” General Hajizadeh said, adding, “It is possible that a US general or some operators were behind this American aggression, we don’t know that. But that measure (intruding into Iranian airspace) is a violation of international aviation rules by a spy drone which then received our natural response.”

Also, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that his country had retrieved parts of the spy drone that was shot down from the country’s territorial waters, rejecting Washington’s claim that the aircraft was targeted in international waters.

“(The) US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode and violated Iranian airspace,” Zarif wrote on Twitter, adding that the drone “was targeted near… Kouh-e Mobarak” region in the Central district of Jask in Hormuzgan province after the aircraft violated Iran’s airspace.

Zarif even provided the coordinates where the US aircraft was intercepted, and added, “We’ve retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down.”

In an earlier tweet, Zarif stated that Iran “will take this US new aggression to (the) UN and show that the US is lying about international waters”.

The Iranian foreign minister noted that Tehran does not want war, “but will zealously defend our skies, land and waters”.

Meantime, IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami stressed that the move should alert Washington officials to stay away.

The incident sent “a clear message” to the US and other enemies that Iran will show a firm and crushing response to any aggression, Salami stated.

“Borders are our red lines and any enemy which violates them will not go back home and will be annihilated. The only way for enemies is to respect Iran’s territorial integrity and national interests,” the major general noted.

Also, earlier this month, General Salami said Iran’s military power and might had taken the military option off the table for the US, stating that the US was fearful of war against Iran.

“We have completely blocked the road to the enemies in the military field and we have reversed the balance. Under the current situation, it is the enemies who are concerned about war and this concern is displayed in their physical and tactical behavior,” General Salami said, addressing the commanders and personnel of Khatam al-Anbia base in Tehran.

He said the US exercised a similar offensive strategy in the political field first, but “eventually, they announced that they didn’t intend to go for a confrontation and called it a quit; in fact, this was a retreat to give them a chance to save themselves from a bottleneck they had created themselves.”

“Today, our global power is very well known and credited, and it includes an extraordinary deterrence capacity; we have managed to shatter the United States’ awe in the world public opinion” on the scene of action, General Salami said.